[2] I stayed most of the time with friends and relatives while in Argentina. I also didn’t sightsee that much when taking into account that I was there for almost 2.5 months.
[3] I stayed for over a month in Medellin, and almost exclusively in Airbnb apartments for around 50-60 USD/night.

Short trips to a country usually means higher than normal costs per day. This is because you tend to move faster (more transportation costs) and pack more activities in each day. An example of this is Bolivia. It is a cheap country in general, but tours and visa costs drove up the average over such a short period of time.

Oceania

Days

Total

Per Day

Notes

Oceania Totals

92

$7,017

$76

New Zealand

69

$4,837

$70

[4]

Australia

23

$2,060

$90

Includes $15 visa.

Flights

$120

Christchurch → Sydney

[4] In New Zealand I did a lot of multi-day hikes. And while the mountain huts I stayed in each night while hiking were not cheap, I assume overall it was cheaper per day than doing city traveling.

East And Southeast Asia

South East Asia was by far the cheapest region I visited, while also providing high standards for accommodation and food. If you want to make your money last, this is where you should go. In Cambodia for example, we stayed in a very nice hotel room, ate out every meal, hired private transport to tour Angkor Wat for three days, all for $31 per day per person. Same with Myanmar, where we traveled at a fast pace taking in a lot of sights for $26 per day.

Days

Total

Per Day

Notes

E And SE Asia Totals

315

$13,637

$43

Taiwan #1

61

$858

$14

Got free accommodation and didn't move around much for 61 days. [5]

Taiwan #2

28

$1,191

$43

Traveled w/Jenni, staying in private rooms. [6]

Japan #1

23

$2,040

$89

[7]

Japan #2

65

$2,000

$31

Worked for accommodation. [8]

Hong Kong

6

$527

$88

Macau

13

$1,382

$106

Stayed in private rooms.

Singapore

42

$1,892

$44

Didn't sightsee much. Includes $192 F1 race ticket.

Malaysia

12

$625

$52

Includes $50 MotoGP ticket.

Myanmar

27

$701

$26

Traveled with Jenni.

Thailand

23

$704

$31

Traveled with Jenni.

Cambodia

15

$471

$31

Traveled with Jenni.

Flights

$1,246

[9]

[5] I was tired after Australia and hiking New Zealand for 10 weeks, so I took an extended break in Taipei. I was offered free accommodation by a relative.
[6] My second visit to Taiwan was an actual backpacking trip, and I toured around the entire island.
[7] My first visit to Japan was action-packed, as I moved a lot using my rail pass.
[8] I stayed mostly in Osaka during my second visit to Japan, working for accommodation, which is the biggest expense.
[9] Taipei → Osaka, Tokyo → HK, HK → Singapore, Singapore → Kuala Lumpur, Singapore → HK, HK → Osaka, Osaka → HK (didn’t take flight), Osaka → Taipei, Taipei → Yangon.

Middle East

I only stayed in private hotel rooms while in the Middle East.

Days

Total

Per Day

Notes

Middle East Totals

59

$4,119

$70

Oman

14

$1,307

$93

Includes $52 visa.

United Arab Emirates

15

$989

$66

Qatar

3

$116

$39

Includes $27 visa. Stayed with couchsurfing host.

Kuwait

3

$100

$33

Iran

24

$1,220

$51

Includes $99 visa.

Flights

$387

Dubai → Doha (RT), Dubai → Kuwait City (RT), Dubai → Masshad

Africa

Africa is much more expensive than I expected, especially hotel rooms and car rentals. They also rip you off with visa fees.

Days

Total

Per Day

Notes

Africa Totals

15

$2,692

$179

Djibouti

3

$352

$117

Includes $60 visa.

Somaliland/Somalia

5

$338

$68

Includes $60 visa and $60 arrival tax.

Eritrea

7

$1,296

$185

Joined a tour group for entire stay.

Flights

$706

Djibouti → Hargeisa, Hargeisa → Asmara

Impressions Of Each Country

Below are my impressions on how affordable each country is, in these categories:

Hostels
A dorm bed in a 4-bed to 6-bed dorm.
Very Cheap: less than $7, Cheap: $7-10, Moderate: $10-18, Expensive: more than $18

Food
A meal at a decent and cheap place.
Very Cheap: less than $3, Cheap: around $3-5, Moderate: $5-8, Expensive: more than $8

Attractions
Costs of tours and entrance fees to places.

Transportation
Local and long distance buses and trains, or cost to rent a car.

Accommodation

Food

Attractions

Transportation

Peru

Cheap

Cheap

Moderate

Moderate

Bolivia

Cheap

Very Cheap

Cheap

Cheap

Argentina

Moderate

Moderate

Moderate

Moderate

Brazil

Expensive

Expensive

Expensive

Expensive

Uruguay

Cheap

Moderate

Moderate

Cheap

Venezuela

Very Cheap

Very Cheap

Cheap

Very Cheap

Colombia

Moderate

Moderate

Moderate

Cheap

Chile

Moderate

Moderate

Moderate

Moderate

New Zealand

Expensive

Expensive

Expensive

Moderate

Australia

Expensive

Expensive

Expensive

Expensive

Taiwan

Moderate

Cheap

Cheap

Very Cheap

Japan

Expensive

Moderate

Expensive

Expensive

Hong Kong

Expensive

Moderate

Moderate

Moderate

Macau

Expensive

Moderate

Expensive

Moderate

Singapore

Expensive

Cheap

Moderate

Moderate

Malaysia

Moderate

Cheap

Cheap

Cheap

Myanmar

Moderate

Cheap

Very Cheap

Cheap

Thailand

Cheap

Cheap

Cheap

Cheap

Cambodia

Cheap

Very Cheap

Moderate

Cheap

Oman

Expensive

Moderate

Cheap

Moderate

United Arab Emirates

Moderate

Moderate

Expensive

Moderate

Qatar

Expensive

Moderate

Moderate

Moderate

Kuwait

Expensive

Moderate

Moderate

Moderate

Djibouti

Expensive

Cheap

N/A

Expensive

Somaliland

Moderate

Cheap

Moderate

Expensive

Eritrea *

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Iran

Moderate

Moderate

Moderate

Moderate

* I joined a tour group for Eritrea, so I’m not sure how much each category costs, but at $185/day it is a very expensive country.

My Traveling Style

During the first year and a half, I mostly stayed in hostel dorm rooms. Occasionally I’d get tired of them and stay in a private room or apartment for a few days. While staying in hostels, I tend to pick rooms with fewer beds (4 to 6). I also usually pick one of the best reviewed hostels in the area, going for quality over price. During the three months I traveled with Jenni, we almost always stayed in private rooms. Once I got to the Middle East and Africa, I stayed exclusively in private rooms by myself, although many of these places didn’t have hostels anyway.

I’m not very particular about food, but I also rarely cooked. I tended to eat outside, but usually not in expensive places. Sometimes I would just buy a few snacks from the supermarket or convenience store and call it a meal. Food was never a priority and I probably saved a lot of money that way.

When it comes to attractions though, I don’t skimp. If there’s something I want to do, I’ll pay for it unless it’s clearly a ripoff. Having said that, I was usually not interested in the typical tourists traps. For example, I didn’t go to the top of Tokyo Skytree or Burj Khalifa in Dubai. But I would splurge and stay in a temple in Mount Koya, Japan for example.

I didn’t drink alcohol every night. I might have a beer with my meal, but drinking was more of a social thing that I did when I met other people. I could easily go a week or two without drinking.

I always bought sim cards and internet data for my phone in each country. For better or worse, I do consider the phone an important tool for traveling, especially Google Maps to help me navigate around places.

How I Kept Track of Expenses

I used Google Keep on my phone to keep track of each expense. I like it because you can use it even when you don’t have wi-fi or a data connection. Instead of using it after each time I spent money, I would record it only once a day or every other day. Once in a while I would not remember the exact amount of a particular expense that happened two days before, so I would just use the best estimate I could come up with.

Every 2 or 3 weeks I would migrate those numbers to a Google Sheets spreadsheet. I would create a tab for each country, and enter each expense to get a running total for each country. I then converted everything to US dollar. A separate tab has a running total for all countries combined.

There are probably phone apps or easier ways to do this, but this is what worked for me.

Thoughts

Before I left for this trip, I estimated that I’d need $60/day and that’s exactly how much I have spent after 731 days. This happened without me trying to stick to a budget while traveling.

You could do a similar trip on a lower budget, by skipping the expensive countries like Australia and New Zealand, and expensive continents like Africa. On the other hand, if you go to every single “must-see” attraction in each city, your expenses would be way higher.

In the end, I think 22,000 USD per year is money very well spent for the places I have seen, the people I have met, and the memories I have collected. They will last me a lifetime.